Mind the Bucket

There are many variables in life...

How long will I stay in good health?

When am I going to get rheumatism?

With the unique DNA we all get, how tall will I be when I'm an adult?

Will my hair become lighter or turn darker when I'm over this or that age?

And so on, and so forth.

There's ONE thing we can all be sure of: one day, we're going to die.*

Now, my dear (superstitious, and scared of her own shadow) grandmother used to say that merely thinking about death wasn't going to make you die - and she had quite a point.

What brings this post on is that, today, I mentioned a tragedy where someone who died, at a young age and unexpectedly, had his wishes not respected by his parents because he'd left no will.

I said to someone that we are all going to die, one way or the other, that aneurysm is a silent killer that can be in all of us (and that's not taking into account the nutty cab driver behaving like a demented pilot in a bad Sci-Fi plot). That person looked at me as if I'd just predicted the day of his death when I recommended that he write a testament.

I can understand that fear... I'd like to go to sleep one night, and just drift into eternal peace, but that dream scenario might never happen, and I have a testament stating clearly what I expect after my death, and who should get my possessions (it's still in the black box, in my Tax folder).

I can understand the fear, but since we are all going to die, it's an act of love to unburden the people who will have to deal with everything once we've kicked the bucket: we plan things for them, and they don't have to think too much whilst dealing with the grief of our passing.

I'm probably unfair, but not planning for the future after our death has a kind of "playing ostrich" quality in my book. I've seen (or heard of) all kinds of tragedies, just in my family; just because male and female relatives lived as if they would live forever, as if they'd never, ever die - and when they did, their spouses and children were left to fend for themselves, and in a few cases things got really nasty. All that because someone played ostrich and refused to consider the possibility of death.

Then again, once they'd kicked the bucket, they no longer were with us to see the aftermath. That's one way of life

Be afraid all you like, but writing a testament, leaving your body to science, allowing your organs to be harvested, etc... These things don't take long, and once that's done, you don't have to think about it again.

There's nothing wrong with planning for a future that we're never going to see. To me, it was a way to try to leave some love around after I kick the bucket (which will happen someday - hopefully in about a hundred years... or more).

*: merely a statement. I'm fine these days (Void at bay for the moment). No need to worry.